Local Pastor Recounts Megabus Ordeal

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A local pastor took control of a Megabus on the Pennsylvania Turnpike after the driver became ill Monday evening.

James Grantz is a pastor at the City Reach Church on the North Side, but he’s also driven semi-trucks and buses.

He and other passengers report the driver was having problems as soon as they left Philadelphia, swerving and nearly hitting a car. But Grantz says things got really frightening near Bedford when he says they became sandwiched between two semi-trucks and narrowly escaped.

“I said, ‘Ma’m, you need to pull over!,'” said Grantz. He added that the driver appeared incoherent and was “out of it.” That’s when he realized that he needed to take the wheel.

“She was still sitting on the seat. I kind of leaned on her and grabbed the wheel,” said Grantz. He says he pulled the bus off to the side of the road.

He says the driver said she needed to change her glasses and that she forgot her blood pressure medicine. Grantz believes God put him on that bus, and said he didn’t feel nervous until afterward.

“I felt the adrenaline,” said Grantz. “I was shaking.”

A representative from Megabus released a statement that reads in the part: “The driver who took ill is doing well and will receive further checks from the doctor. Safety is our absolute priority and, as a matter of course, we are investigating the incident.”